Millimetre Wave Transmission

Millimetre Wave Transmission concerns the use of the millimetre wave spectrum for radio transmission. Millimetre wave spectrum lies in the 30 GHz to 300 GHz range (with wavelengths from 10 mm to 1 mm).

This spectrum is of interest for a number of reasons:

Lots of spectrum available: There is one order of magnitude of more spectrum available in this band than in lower bands

Larger bandwidth channels are possible, up to 2 GHz, and in the future up to and wider than 10 GHz. This allows for fibre-like capacity

The spectrum can be made available quickly, and can be reused easily with the limited propagation range in this band

Lower spectrum license costs lead to a lower total cost of ownership and lower cost per bit of radio systems using this spectrum

However there are barriers to using this spectrum. Regulations for millimetre wave radio differ greatly from country to country, ranging from no regulation to full regulation and a lack of confidence in the performance achievable.

millimetre Wave Transmission ISG

ETSI has established a millimetre Wave Transmission (mWT) Industry Specification Group (ISG) to provide a platform and opportunity for companies and organizations involved in the microwave and millimetre-wave industry chain to address the challenges involved in using this spectrum.

mWT aims to be a worldwide initiative with global reach and will address the whole industry:

National Regulators

Standards Organizations

Telecom Operators

Product vendors

Key component vendors

The mWT ISG aims to facilitate the use of:

V-band (57 to 66 GHz)

E-band (71 to 76 & 81 to 86 GHz) and

in the future higher frequency bands (up to 300 GHz)

for large volume applications in back-hauling and front-hauling to support mobile network implementation, wireless local loop and any other service benefitting from high speed wireless transmission.

current and future regulations and licensing schemes for the use of suitable spectrum in different countries

putting in communication the whole industry chain to share and circulate public information regarding the applications in field in order to favor faster and more effective decisions on investments needed to provide new technologies, features and equipment

influencing standards for the deployment of the products

enhancing the confidence of all stakeholders and the general public in the use of millimetre-wave technologies

High priority topics

60 GHz band regulation: the very fragmented approach in terms of spectrum allocation and licensing model (despite its unlicensed band) is preventing small cell backhaul applications in some countries

Enhance the confidence in the use of millimetre-wave technologies: sharing the amount of information derived by trials and early roll-outs on E-band regarding propagation impairments and availability calculation methods can improve operators' confidence

Definitions of key requirements for most important transmission applications: macro backhaul, small cell back-haul, front-haul, etc.

Identification of most suitable (target) millimetre wave bands for most important transmission applications

Initial activities

The group will produce a set of white papers and reports on the technology: surveying current deployments, sharing results from trials and early roll-outs, defining suitable use-cases, identifying the most suitable millimetre wavebands, and examining the situation related to semiconductor component availability.

The mWT ISG is open to all ETSI members and non-members. For more information please contact ISGsupport@etsi.org.

Related ETSI Activities

ETSI ATTM TM4 and ETSI ERM have already developed Harmonised Standards in the mm wave range to allow Fixed Radio Link products to be placed on the market in Europe:

EN 302 217 multipart standard for point-to-point links: This includes fixed links up to 86 GHz.